RAINFORESTS ARE VALUABLE FOR CONSERVATION

                      New research has found rainforests that have been logged several times continue to hold substantial value for biodiversity and could have a role in conservation.

                   The research, which monitored bats as an indicator for environmental change on Borneo, is the first of its kind to have wildlife in forests logged more than two times. The findings are particularly important because across the tropics forest that has been intensively harvested is frequently targeted for conservation to agriculture and is perceived to hold little value for timber, carbon or biodiversity.

              Recent studies have emphasised similar numbers of species living in unlogged and logged sites, but what is surprising is that just how resilient some species were, even in sites almost unrecognisable as rainforest.

             Only by viewing forest sites along a gradient of logging disturbance, ranging from pristine to heavily degraded, were the team able to detect a gradual decline of some key bat species.

             The research confirmed the most vulnerable bats were those that tend to live in the cavities of old growth trees. By linking bat captures with vegetation measurements from nearby plots, the researchers were able to reveal how these animals declined as successive rounds of logging took their trolls on forest structure and crucially, the availability of tree cavities.

              Although logging damage was clearly detrimental to some of the species studied, the findings also offer some hope for forest restoration efforts.

ARCTIC ICE DECREASING AND ANTARCTIC ICE INCREASING

         Much attention is paid to melting sea ice in the Arctic. But less clear is the situation on the other side of the planet. Despite warmer air and oceans, there is more sea ice in Antarctica now than in the 1970s- a fact often pounded on by global warming sceptics. The latest members suggest the Antarctica sea ice may be heading toward a record this year.

           A researcher of the University of Washington says the reason lie in the winds. A new modelling study to be published in the Journal of Climate shows that stronger polar winds lead to an increase in Antarctic sea ice, even in a warming climate.

           “The overwhelming evidence is that the Southern Ocean is warming”, said the author Jinlun Zhang, an oceanographer at the UW Applied Physics Laboratory. “Why would sea ice be increasing? Although the rate of increase is small, it is a puzzle to scientists.”

            His new study shows that stronger westerly winds swirling around the South Pole can explain 80% of the increase in Antarctica sea ice volume in the past three decades.

           The polar vortex that swirls around the South Pole is not just stronger than it was when satellite records began in the 1970s, it has more convergence, meaning it shoves the sea ice together to cause ridging. Stronger winds also drive ice faster, which leads to still more deformation and ridging. This creates thicker, longer-lasting ice, while exposing surrounding water and thin ice to the blistering cold winds that cause more ice growth.

         In a computer simulation that includes detailed interactions between wind and the sea, thicker ice- more than 6 feet deep– increased by about 1% every year from 1979 to 2010. While the amount of thin ice stayed fairly constant. The end result is a thicker, slightly larger ice pack that lasts longer into summer.

         When the model held the polar winds at a constant level, the sea ice increased only 20% as much. A previous study by Zhang showed that changes in water density could explain the remaining increase.

       “People have been talking about the possible link between winds and Antarctica sea ice expansion before, but I think this is the first study that confirms this link though a model experiment.” Said by Alex Schweiger, a polar scientist at the UW Applied Physics Lab. “This is another process by which dynamic changes in the atmosphere can make changes in sea ice that are not necessarily expected.”

     The research was funded by the National Science Foundation.

   Though, it is still a mystery why the southern winds have been getting stronger, some scientist have theorized that it could be related to global warming or to the Ozone depletion in the southern hemisphere or just to natural cycles of variability. Difference between the two poles could explain the opposite behave. Surface air warming in the Arctic is more uniform. Another difference in the Arctic is that, the Northern hemisphere is protected basin, while the Antarctic sea ice floats in open oceans where the ice can expand freely. Many of the models are unable to explain why the Antarctic ice increases.

“If the warming continues, at some point the trend will reverse

WORLD NOT ON TRACK OVER CLIMATE CHANGE

           One of the top UN official said that international leaders are failing to fight global warming, appealing directly to the world’s voters to pressure their politicians into taking tougher action against the build up of green gases.

Halldor Thorgeirsson told the journalists Tuesday that, “We are failing as an international community” and that the world is “not on track” to prevent potentially catastrophic climate change.

           Thorgeisson, a senior director with UN framework convention on climate change, was speaking with two hours left to go before the world powers gather in Paris for another round of negotiation over the future of the world’s climate. Which scientists warn will warm dramatically unless action is taken to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.

NEW MEMBERS IN THE SUNDERBANS

          With a spurt in cub sighting in the Sunderbans, officials say actually there could be more tigers in the mangroves than what the latest camera trap study revealed-103. The successive sighting of two cubs, in the forests of Pirkhali under Sajnekhali tourism zone and Arbesi under Basirhat range, have given a new boost to the animal’s critical habitat and conservation efforts in the single largest block of tidal mangrove forest in the world.

        “In the recently-concluded camera trap study, no tiger image was captured in the North 24 Parganas. Last week, a beat officer clicked the snap of a cub with its mother. A big male, which has possibly fathered the cub, was also sighted near the spot. We hope the three will be the newest additions to the figure of 103, the minimum number of tiger in the mangroves.” Said Soumitra Dasgupta- The Sunderbans Tiger Reserve field director. Though a final call could be taken only after comparing their stripe patterns with those of recorded images, he added.

         The good news does not ends with this, there are more good news for the wildlife and the the Royal Bengal Tiger lovers;

         Foresters have also photo-captured another cub, hardly 3-4 months old, with its mother in the forests of Pirkhali I during a routine patrol. “We were all euphoric at that time. The moment the tigress spotted us, she tried to take the cub away from our sight. But the cub was in no mood to hang up on the new-found adventure in its life. He kept staring at our lenses and we had enough scope to take their snaps. Later, the tigress shooed away the cub and again appeared from behind the bushes to have water.” Said a forester, who was present in that spot.

THREE ANCIENT RIVER SYSTEM CREATED VIABLE ROUTES FOR HUMAN MIGRATION

Three ancient river systems, now buried, may have created viable routes for human migration across the Sahara to the Mediterranean region about 100,000 years ago, according to research published September 11 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Tom Coulthard from the University of Hull, UK, and colleagues from other institutions.

Simulating paleoclimates in the region, the researchers found quantitative evidence of three major river systems that likely existed in North Africa 130,000-100,000 years ago, but are now largely buried by dune systems in the desert. When flowing, these rivers likely provided fertile habitats for animals and vegetation, creating 'green corridors' across the region. At least one river system is estimated to have been 100 km wide and largely perennial. The Irharhar river, westernmost of the three identified, may represent a likely route of human migration across the region. In addition to rivers, the researchers' simulations predict massive lagoons and wetlands in northeast Libya, some of which span over 70,000-square kilometers.

"It's exciting to think that 100,000 years ago there were three huge rivers forcing their way across a 1000km of the Sahara desert to the Mediterranean -- and that our ancestors could have walked alongside them" said Coulthard.

Previous studies have shown that people travelled across the Saharan mountains toward more fertile Mediterranean regions, but when, where and how they did so is a subject of debate. Existing evidence supports the possibilities of a single trans-Saharan migration, many migrations along one route, or multiple migrations along several different routes. The existence of 'green corridors' that provided water and food resources were likely critical to these events, but their location and the amount of water they carried is not known. The simulations provided in this study aim to quantify the probability that these routes may have been viable for human migration across the region.

ELEPHANTS FEARS TIGERS

Wild Asian elephants slink quietly away at the sound of a growling tiger, but trumpet and growl before retreating from leopard growls, researchers at the University of California, Davis, have found. The work, published Sept. 11 in the journal Biology Letters, could help Indian farmers protect their crops from marauding elephants and save the lives of both people and animals.

"We noticed that the elephants were more scared of tigers than of leopards," said Vivek Thuppil, who carried out the work with Richard Coss, professor of psychology at UC Davis, as part of his Ph.D. in animal behavior.

Thuppil and Coss studied the elephants' behavior in an effort to prevent conflicts between human farmers and elephant herds that raid their fields by night. It's the first study of nighttime antipredator behavior in elephants.

Crop raiding by elephants is a serious problem in India, Thuppil said. Farmers use drums, firecrackers and electrified fences to try to keep them out of their crops. About 400 people a year are killed during these encounters, and some hundred elephants are killed through poisoning, electrocution or other means, according to an Indian government report.

The researchers set up equipment to play back leopard or tiger growls triggered when the elephants crossed infrared beams across paths leading to crop fields, and captured the events on video.

Leopards aren't known to prey on elephants, but tigers will sometimes attack a young elephant that becomes separated from the herd.

Although their initial reactions were very different, the elephants ultimately retreated from growls of both cats.

The elephants might be confused by the leopard growl, Thuppil said. A real leopard would most likely retreat from a group of elephants. Still, there's probably no benefit to the elephants in risking an encounter with a leopard, even if it is not a known predator.

"You don't want to mess with something with claws and teeth," Thuppil said.

"They're acting in a very intelligent way," Coss said.

Wild elephant populations are stable or even increasing in forest areas, Thuppil said. While the forest itself is protected, human settlement increasingly has moved into the buffer areas surrounding the forest, which elephants pass through while foraging or visiting different patches of forest.

BIG WHALE COLONY FOUND IN SRI-LANKA

There was a time when the big whales were hunted almost to extinction. In 1966, this was changed, when the protective laws were enacted to blues, the largest animal of the planet. Now there is a new development and it is good one- A huge Blue Whales colony has been discovered in Sri Lanka.  Last year Amos Nachoum scouted Sri Lanka for the fifth time in order to set up diving and photography operation- His first exploration in Sri Lanka was in 1982. According to his description he was amazed what he saw. He has been waiting all the time for the moment.

HAPPY TO BE NAKED AT 34

                       The new survey reveals that 34 is the magical age when 40% of women admitted that they take a good look at their naked bodies passionately, everyday.
                        When the respondents were asked about their favorite part of the bodies, 30 per cent of the women said they were proud of their breast while 22 per cent of the women were proud of their legs. However, 50 per cent of the ladies wanted a flatter tummy..

NINE BLACKBUCKS FOUND DEAD IN LUCKNOW ZOO

         Since September 7, nine blackbucks have died in Lucknow zoo. The post mortem report says that acute broncho pneumonia is the causse of the death. The zoo authority is checking that whether the other blackbucks are also affected or not.
         

RHINO SHOT DEAD BY FOREST GUARDS- IN ASSAM

              An adult rhino was allegedly shot dead by the forest guards at Barbheti village in Assam's Sonitupr district on this Sunday. Five days ago this rhino strayed into the village. The Forest guards were trying to guide the straying rhino to the Kaziranga National Park. Around 8:30 am the rhino attacked five forest guards. Those guards have nothing to do at last and they shot the creature. The rhino received five bullet injury and died on the spot.

RARE FOSSIL APE DISCOVERED IN CHINA

                A team of researcher has discovered the cranium of a fossil ape from shuitangba, a Miocene site in Yunnan province, China.
               According to a team member Nina Jablonski, juvenile crania of apes and hominins are extremely rare in the fossil record, especially those of infants and young juveniles. This cranium is only the second relatively complete cranium of a young juvenile in the entire Miocene- 23-25 million years ago- record of the fossil apes throughout the old world, and both were discovered from the late Miocene of Yunnan Province.
               The cranium is also noteworthy for its age. it's just over 6 million years old, dates to near the end of the Miocene, a time when apes had become extinct in the most of the Eurasia. 

SELLING WHITE RHINOS TO SAVE THEM- IS THAT A SOLUTION?

                   In effort to curb rhino poaching, the South African Govt. is taking a different approach- selling them. Within the last two years the Kruger National Park (KNP) has sold 170 white rhinos to private ranches. This is necessary to improve the conservation of status of white rhinos in the country by establishing rhino populations on the private ranches.
                   KNP has been a target of rhino poaching because of its long international boundaries. It has lost 381 rhinos, the official statistics reveal. Selling the rhinos also generate the income of the KNP. Though no black rhinos have been sold as reported. black rhinos are critically endangered species, of which fewer than 5000 remains in the wild, worldwide.

                    South Africa is the home of rhinos since the beginning. 70% of the rhino population lives here. But illegal poaching stoked by growing demand for the rhino horns has diminished the rhino population in South Africa.
                    But selling the rhinos is a alternative solution, if KNP can not find a good way to stop this poaching then the day is not far when all the rhinos are either sold or killed by the poachers.

LAND VANISHES IN EAST SUNDARBANS

           The upper Bidya and Raimangal regions in the Sunderbans, key human and wildlife habitat in the eastern  parts of the mangroves, are under severe threat of inundation due to the sea-level rise.

           A recent study by the World Bank and the Institute of Environmental Studies and Wetland Management (IESWM) has suggested to de-populate parts of some islands along the fringe areas on this parts so that the existing embankments can be moved back to allow a wider tidal channel to develop. This will, in turn, lead to deposition of sediments which can raise the land faster than the sea level rise.

            The study has also alerted  if the sedimentation can’t keep pace with the sea level rise- believed to happening at 3 millimetres annually- the Sunderbans may see a huge loss of mangroves which will put the survival of the endangered Royal Bengal tiger at risk. A recent camera trap report has captured presence of at least 55 tigers on this part of the mangroves.

            Agreeing to the report WWF-INDIA’s Sunderbans chapter head Anurag Danda said there is a need to De-populate some islands, as once these erode the man groves will get new sediments which will help it flourish in the future.

            But for now, the fate of 3.5 million people living within 20 km of the mangroves’ northern and eastern boundaries and more than 50 tigers believed to be ruling the forests of its eastern region hang in the balance.

             However, the IESWM senior scientist Somenath Bhattacharyya is of firm opinion that with proper modelling a d consequent management, it is possible to save the Sunderbans even with 1 metre sea level rise.

              The West Bengal Govt. has to handle this matter very sincerely as this is very important issue of the ecosystem. It’s already proved that the Sunderbans is the only habitat where the tigers have maintained their own regions. Why this endangered species do not have the attention of the WB Govt. is a very interesting question. May be they have no voting power, that is why they are neglected so far.

NEW MOON OF NEPTUNE

                        Nasa scientists have discovered a new moon orbiting planet Neptune using the Hubble space telescope. This new moon is estimated to be more than  12 miles across, makes it the smallest known moon in the Neptunian system, which already had 13 known moons.

KING OF PREDATOR OF ALL TIME

                                   Scientists have discovered a fossilized tooth belonging to the vicious Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur, which they claim provides solid evidence that the creature was indeed a predator, hunter and killer, and not a scavenger as some paleontologist suggested previously. Tyrannosaurus Rex has long been popular as the most notorious, vicious killing creature to roam the planet during the age of the dinosaurs.

                                   For more than a century some paleontologists

have argued that Tyrannosaurus Rex was a scavenger, not a predator. From this new study it is almost sure that the previous theory was not true and the Tyrannosaurus Rex were the King of the predators of all era. 

ARCTIC AFTER 2058

                               Arctic may become ice free for several months of the year, starting sometime during the years 2054 to 2058, a combined team of researchers from the US and China has predicted. Using a climate simulation tool, scientists have projected that the Arctic will become September ice free after the next 40 years, ice-free in this context refers to a time period during any year, more specifically, during the September after withstanding the heat of summer, researchers said.

                           A warmer planet would mean warmer temperatures in the Arctic- enough warming and Arctic would eventually become ice-free during part of the year, the most alarming is that, when all the ice melted, the sea level will risen very high, so many parts of the lands will gone beneath the sea.

ASTRONAUT DRIVES ROBOT ON EARTH, AT FIRST

                                           NASA transformed the international space station into a command center for a robot on the earth this month for a first of its kind test drive of the technology and skills needed to remotely operate the robot on the moon, mars or and asteroid.

                                          During the June 17 space technology test, NASA astronaut  Chris Cassidy, a space station flight engineer, remotely controlled a K10 rover at the agency's Ames Research Center in Moffett field, Calif. The robot was commanded to simulate deploying a polyimide-film antenna in a specially built "Roverscape" at the NASA center.
                                         On the space station, Cassidy received telemetry and real time video from the rover and monitored the robot's reaction to his commands via virtual terrain display.

TORTOISES ARE GOING TO WALK FASTER???????

                                                  Though it looks to be impossible, but it's true- tortoises are going to walk fast in the Twycross zoo.
                                                  This zoo is training its giant tortoises to walk faster. Staff members at  the Twycross, are feeding treats to Speedy(70), Tom(40), Shelly(30) so that they can exceed their speed of less than one mile per hour as they cross a new larger pen, the daily express reported. " we use a target and the tortoises' favorite foods. We hold the target a few centimeters in front of them and when they touch it with their nose we say 'good' and feed them. we the move the target further away and repeat the process," Kris Hern- a zookeeper, said this.
                                                If this examination is successful then it is a big proof of the Darwin's  struggle for existence and the theory of his evolution.

BUMPY-FACED REPTILE RULED THE WORLD BEFORE THE DINOSAURS

                                                     During the Permian era, there was only one super-continent called Pangea existed on the earth. Animal and plant life dispersed broadly across this land. Now by a new theory published in the Journal of vertebrate paleontology supports the idea that there was an isolated desert in the middle off the Pangea with its own fauna. Roaming in this desert in what is now northern Niger was a very distinctive creature known as Pareiasaur. They were very large herbivorous reptile and they were very common in that desert  during the middle and late Permian era [about 266-252 million years ago.]
                                                 The main author of this theory, Linda Tsuji said, "Imagine a cow-sized plant-eating reptile with a knobby skull and bony armor down its back."

                                                 Newly discovered fossils belong to the aptly genus Bunostegos which means knobby[skull] roof. Fleshing out of the details, the archaeologist have candidly explain that the face of the Pareiasaur appears as if it has been made by a kindergarten, who went wild when he was using the brush. Most of the Pareiasaurs had a bony knobs on their skulls but Bunostegos spotted the largest, most bulbous one's ever discovered. In life, these were probably skin-covered horns like those on the heads of the modern giraffes. Although at the first blush these features seem to suggest that Bunostegos was an evolutionary advance Pareiasaur, it also had many primitive characteristic. Tsuji's analysis showed that Bunostegos was actually more closely related to older and more primitive Pareiasaurs which leads us to to conclusions: 

1. its knobby noggin was the result of convergent evolution 
2. that is genealogical lineage had been isolated for millions of years 

                                         The archaeologists had explained that Bunostegos were not live alone in the desert, some fossils of another creature creatures were found there, named Gorgonopsian- a mammal like carnivore. 

                                          Some scientist believed that the modern day turtles are the direct descendants of Pareiasaurs. During the phase of this discovery, the knob lizard was studied and was found to be a primitive lizard. It had separated from the original ones millions of years ago. It was obliterated from the surface of the earth, roughly 248 million years ago.

PLANETS WITH TWO SUNS MAY INCREASE THE CHANCE TO HAVE LIFE

                                  Planets with two suns should be more capable of supporting life than other planets. These type of having dual suns might actually help prevent the damaging solar winds from bombarding planets in their system. Joni Clark, a undergraduate student at new mexico state university said, " It's like a really good marriage. they vent to each other, and they're not focused on anything else. They slow each other down and that causes increased magnetic  protection of the planets."
                                 When the stars in a binary are somewhat evenly matched in mass, the can enter into a synchronized dance that keeps solar winds to a minimum. The stars also need to fully orbit one another within 10 to 30 days to expand the habitable zone. If they drift too far apart, it could put a significant gravitational strain on the orbiting planets.
                                 The magnetic fields of the planets aren't necessarily boosted in these kinds of binary system, Clark said, but they don't have to deal with as much solar wind assault. Waterly worlds and rocky planets could form in areas of the system that might not be habitable without the double star interaction, he added.

                                  Clark said, " It also leaves the potential open for smaller planets that have less magnetic field protection to remain habitable as they don't have to protect themselves from as much as they would in a single star case." he found that p- type planets received 0.7 % less flux from solar wind than earth depending on their position in the solar system. Potentially, p-type binaries could have more potential for habitability." In these system, it's also possible that habitable alien planets could exist as close-in to their stars as Venus is to the sun.